BCFF awarded a grant to the Sarasota Military Academy for the purchase of brand-new instruments and equipment for the high school drum line program. The new equipment will allow the high school group to move up to higher quality instruments for competition opportunities while allowing for the start of a junior drum line program at SMA Prep with the existing equipment.
The Mighty SMA Drum Line is the signature performance group for the Academy. Most of the Cadets who join the drum line have little or no experience on the drums, so they not only learn a new instrument, they learn to play together with the line. Self esteem and peer respect are just a couple of examples of the benefits that the Cadets receive as part of the drum line. The program’s design is to become not only the best performance drum line it can be, but to also enter into drum line competitions to expand the teamwork and leadership aspects that come with a competitive endeavor. The additional goal is to expand the drum line program into the SMA Prep Middle School where none exists at present. This grant will be the catalyst to start a program for the younger grades so that when those students matriculate into the high school drum line program, they will be more prepared to take the reach and depth of the program further.